January 23, 2023, is a day worth remembering for Manchester City fans.
The nineteenth round of the Premier League League is all over.
Manchester City defeated the newly promoted team Brentford 3:0 at their home court, completing an unprecedented nineteen-game winning streak at the start of the season.
So far, Manchester City has defeated all the teams of Premier League.
Even the Football Association's official Instagram expressed blessings to Manchester City.
Manchester City's nineteen-game winning streak also opened the gap between them and the second-placed Liverpool team to ten points.
Liverpool's score of 15 wins, two draws, and two losses totaling 47 points is already very good, but when faced with Manchester City, who had no flaws, he had to settle for second place.
After this game, the Champions League knockout round finally came.
Napoli, Serie A are traditional strong teams.
Somewhat similar to Manchester City, the jersey of Napoli is also mainly blue.
When Li Mingyu and the team were taking the bus to the stadium, murals of Maradona could be seen everywhere on the streets of Napoli.
Maradona is the god of Argentina and also the god of Napoli.
Napoli was originally a small football club in the south of Italy.
On June 30, 1984, when Napoli executives announced that they had reached an agreement with Barcelona to transfer US$4 million (a world transfer fee record at the time) to Maradona, Napoli fans were all shocked.
They will never forget that day.
On July 5, 50,000 fans flocked to Napoli Stadio San Paolo to attend Maradona's meeting with the fans.
Their god has come.
And Maradona also spent the most precious 7 years of his career in this city.
From that moment on, Napoli, a small team from the Italy South, entered the world's attention.
2 Serie A championships, 1 Coppa Italia championship, 1 Italian Super Cup championship and 1 UEFA Cup championship. Such honors have never been won by any Italy southern team.
Two years ago, Maradona passed away suddenly, which moved the whole Argentina. In Napoli, memorial ceremonies for Maradona can be seen everywhere.
Li Mingyu looked at the Napoli city outside the bus and sighed deeply. What kind of magic power did Maradona have back then that could make the entire Napoli become his devout believers?
Since Maradona, Napoli has also had many top stars, but none of these stars have the hope of becoming Napoli.
The imprint Maradona left on this team is so profound that it is almost impossible for anyone to surpass it.
Today, Napoli has become a regular player in the top four of Serie A. Although there is no hope of winning the league championship, he can still participate in the Champions League league every year.
However, Napoli's best result in the Champions League league was only the top 16, and it has never reached the top eight.
This year, they encountered Manchester City in the quarter-finals. No one expected them to eliminate Manchester City and complete their historic breakthrough.
Two different blue colors collide together. Is the blue from the Mediterranean Sea bluer, or the blue from Blue Moon bluer?
The Sao Paulo Stadium, oh no, should be called "Diego Armando-Maradona Stadium" now.
This is the fifth day after the death of Maradona. Mayor Napoli announced that from today on, the stadium will be renamed "Diego Armando-Maradona Stadium".
During Maradona's lifetime, this proposal was never passed.
After Maradona died of illness, this proposal was finally passed.
Outside the Napoli stadium, a bronze statue of Maradona was already surrounded by Napoli fans.
Entering this Italy third largest stadium, Li Mingyu has a special feeling.
No team has ever elevated a player to such a high status.
If I could become such a player, I would probably feel very honored.
The last time Napoli and Manchester City met in the Champions League arena was five years ago.
In the group stage of the Champions League League, two teams were divided into a group.
Manchester City completed a home and away double play against the Napoli team. While qualifying first in the group, he also pushed the Napoli team to the third place in the group and missed the knockout rounds.
This should be the second meeting between the two teams at Champions League.
After the warm-up was completed, players from both teams returned to the locker room.
In the small locker room, Guardiola once again reminded the focus of today's tactics, asking everyone to pay attention to the defense on both wings.
"Good evening, Tencent Sports viewers, welcome everyone to watch the game we broadcast for you. Today is the focus of the Champions League quarter-finals, the double blue battle."
"Napoli is sitting on his home court Maradona Stadium to face Premier League's king's division, Blue Moon Manchester City."
"Napoli's performance this season is still very good. Not only has it reached the knockout round of Champions League again, but it is also currently ranked third in the league."
"Manchester City Needless to say, this season, Manchester City has completed an unprecedented 19-game winning streak in the entire Top Five Leagues. It has won all the Premier League teams. It can be called the strongest king in the history of Premier League."
"Napoli needs to be careful today. Manchester City has become a truly strong team after two years of training."
"Today the home team's Napoli is wearing their traditional blue top and white shorts, while the away team's Manchester City is wearing their latest away team jersey this year, a black top and black shorts. They look murderous!"
"Let's take a look at the starting lineups of both sides first. The home team Napoli has a 4-2-3-1 lineup that they are better at."
"The goalkeeper is Italy goalkeeper Alex Meret. He is only 25 years old. He is 1.92 meters tall and has an amazing arms and wingspan. He is a very good goalkeeper."
"The four defenders are Ma Leo-Rui, Amir Ramani, Costas-Manolas and Giovanni Di Lorenzo."
"The two defensive midfielders are Fabian Ruiz and Bakayoko. Bakayoko is the player Napoli bought out from Chelsea this year. Due to the last Bakayoko's wonderful performance in the midfielder position this season made Napoli spend a lot of money to buy Bakayoko from the Milan duo."
"The three attacking midfielders are Lozano, Zielinski and Insigne. The one at the front is Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen."
"Napoli's frontcourt attack group has very fierce firepower. In this season's Serie A league, Napoli's attackers have scored 25 goals, second only to the first-ranked Inter Milan."
"Manchester City playing away games is still their most familiar 4-3-3 lineup. Goalkeeper Ederson has performed very steadily recently and has kept clean sheets in three consecutive games."
"On the back line, Zinchenko, Stones, Laporte and Walker are the old partners."
"Defensive midfielder Rodri has grown into the mainstay of Manchester City. Today's attacking midfielder has changed. Gundogan has apologized to the entire team a few days ago. Guardiola's internal punishment for him has also come to an end. Today, Gundogan will partner Li Mingyu as the double attacking midfielder."
"On the forward line, Happy Football Sterling returned to the starting lineup again. The center is still Gabriel Jesus. Today, Manchester City on the right wing sent 22-year-old Phil-Foden to play."
"With this lineup, it can be seen that Guardiola attaches great importance to this game. Li Mingyu got sufficient rest during the days when he was a substitute. In this game, Li Mingyu looks full of energy and should have a wonderful performance!"
Players from both sides came to the field and waited for the game to start.
A whistle blew, and the double-blue battle began.
[Congratulations to the host for signing Diego-Armando-Maradona Stadium and gaining mastery of the left foot from Napoli celebrity Maradona.]
Li Mingyu couldn't help but feel happy. Inverse foot has always been a problem in Li Mingyu's heart.
Li Mingyu's right foot is already at the world's top level, but his left foot is always a little stretched.
In fact, in this world, there are almost no superstars with perfectly balanced left and right feet. Even top stars like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have their own dominant and non-dominant feet.
Gaining mastery of Maradona's left foot is simply a dream for Li Mingyu.
Weak Foot Mastery, For a player, the increase in combat power is definitely not the effect of one plus one equals two.
Manchester City kicks off first.
Li Mingyu received the reply from Gabriel Jesus. He couldn't wait to test his inverse foot ability.
Seeing the Napoli captain Insigne rushing up, Li Mingyu, in the shocked eyes of his teammates, used his left foot to Flip Flap, shaking Insigne so hard that he couldn't find it.
Napoli fans expressed surprise at the fake move, but no one was more surprised than Manchester City teammates.
The left foot Flip Flap, the reverse foot can make such fake movements, this is simply inhuman!
Even Flip Flap experts Ronaldo and Ronaldinho have never tried the left-footed Flip Flap in the game.
Slowly, not only Manchester City's teammates noticed, but also the fans at the scene discovered that Li Mingyu had been kicking the ball with his left foot.
Whether it is passing the ball, catching the ball, or passing the ball, Li Mingyu is always using his left foot.
Li Mingyu's name has spread all over the world, and there are almost no fans who don't know him.
Li Mingyu's dominant foot is his right foot. This is something everyone knows. When did he learn to play football with his left foot?
You must know that inverse foot training cannot be achieved overnight. Many players have been practicing for a lifetime and cannot really learn to do inverse foot training.
Many top stars will appear very clumsy when shooting with a ball that is not their dominant foot. They must adjust the ball to their dominant foot.
And Li Mingyu's movements of dribbling the ball and passing people with his left foot gradually made many older Napoli fans' eyes soften.
If it weren't for Li Mingyu's tall and powerful appearance, everyone would actually be able to see it.
Li Mingyu's actions are "imitating" Maradona!
When Maradona Stadium imitates Maradona, originally, fans of Napoli should respond to Li Mingyu with angry boos.
However, the more they look at it, the more fans feel that there is something special about this Li Mingyu.
If he weren't too tall, Li Mingyu would just look like Maradona!
Even the on-site commentator of Napoli said with a sad face, "Li is paying tribute to Maradona!"
After just learning Weak Foot Mastery, he was having a great time playing Li Mingyu. Suddenly, a shocking idea came to his mind.
Although the fans in the stands enjoyed watching Li Mingyu imitate Maradona, the Napoli players on the field were very unhappy.
Li Mingyu's left foot dribbling the ball actually gave them the same illusion as when they faced Messi before. It felt like the ball could be broken if you stretched out your foot, but the moment you took the ball, you were passed.
However, Napoli's defense was very good. In ten minutes, Manchester City was not able to make a single shot at Napoli's goal.
Ten minutes of fierce attack and defense took a lot of physical energy from both sides.
Li Mingyu saw that Napoli's defense had shrunk significantly, so he chose to turn around and pass the ball to his center back Laporte.
Manchester City is ready to play possession, trying to lure Napoli out.
Continuously making mistakes in the midfield, Napoli's players finally couldn't help but press forward.
Li Mingyu came to the right side of the court and signaled Zinchenko to pass the ball to him.
Zinchenko pushed with the arch of his foot and passed the ball to Li Mingyu who was retreating.
However, behind Li Mingyu, Lozano of Napoli was very close. Seeing Li Mingyu preparing to turn around, Lozano immediately rushed forward, trying to force Li Mingyu.
Li Mingyu flicked the ball to the left with his left foot and passed Lozano.
Lozano felt that Li Mingyu was like a loach, slipping without hesitation, unable to restrain its inertia, and unable to defend Li Mingyu as it moved away from him.
Li Mingyu immediately started on the spot, silently chanting, "Assault."
From the right side of the court, Li Mingyu used his left foot to touch the ball. During the high-speed running, the football was always about half a meter away from Li Mingyu's body. Such terrifying control ability made it impossible for Napoli's defensive players to reach out to grab it.
One person, two people, three people, four people, finally, Li Mingyu penetrated Napoli's entire defense line, and one person pushed the ball into Napoli's penalty area.
Facing the attacking goalkeeper, Li Mingyu used his best Pendulum Dribble to knock the goalkeeper to the ground.
A powerful shot sent the football into the goal of team Napoli.
After the goal, Li Mingyu raised his arms and shouted wildly, the Napoli players behind him looked like they had seen a ghost, and Gabriel Jesus, who was catching up, held his head in shock. With the lens of the courtside cameraman, it came into the sight of thousands of households.